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The direct connection

m2C Conference in Prague: Meet Chinese, learn about their views

Rush hour in Hong Kong. The same applies to eCommerce: How do you catch the chinese customer?/ photo: Gena stock.adobe

Prague (November 30, 2018). In Europe, the battle between hotels and OTAs for direct bookings has been on for years. Chinese address guests directly. For them Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a commodity, chat bots are taking reservations and travellers check-in with face recognition solutions. The conference "Marketing to China" (m2C) on March 29-30, 2019 in Prague will explain the different approach to the Chinese customer and how to anchor the own hotel brand in the Far East. Subscribers to HospitalityInside's paid content magazine and participants of the HospitalityInside Think Tank (HITT) receive a discount.

Most of the inventory of European hotels sold to China is based on traditional B2B agreements with travel agents – so primarily offline. Those rooms are later on loaded to Chinese reservation portals and marketplaces, but they are already out of the control of the hotelier. Everything a hotelier can see at this point is the reservation with the name of the guest, very often even without direct contact data – either phone or email.

The situation with the Chinese market is even more complicated, as simple placement on the Chinese OTA needs a lot of effort and patience, mainly due to, lack of local support and the language barrier. On top of this hoteliers also face the connectivity issue, as not all channel managers/ PMS's support Chinese channels.

But the situation is not so hopeless, comforts Tomasz Janczak, host of the m2C conference in Prague and introduces Elijah Whaley, CMO of influencers marketing agency Parklu and a speaker at the conference. He explains: "We are finally starting to see an increase in long-term commitments between (hotel) brands and social media influencers. Long-term sponsorship relationships allow brands to become more synonymous with an influencer in the eyes of followers. Brands that negotiate long-term contracts often use influencers for promotion and as content creators for branded channels. Ultimately, it's about finding novel ways to connect with customers while staying top of mind with quality social content."

Be prepared for the big business

Most hoteliers still give away low pricing, brand, and guest relations to third parties. Even when a group of Chinese travelers is coming, they come and go without proper interaction with the hotel, either offline or online. Building a brand in China is even more difficult due to the language barrier, separated digital ecosystem, and entirely different applications.

Influencer Elijah Whaley.

Complexity and level of complication make the whole attempt more expensive. However, do hoteliers want to give up the entire brand to third parties, like they used to see some time ago and then fight back?

The Chinese market is currently just a few percents of most businesses – but taking into consideration the fact that it's only 5-7% of Chinese who own the passport and just a fraction of it comes to Europe. What is the situation going to be, when the passport is held by 40% of the population (as in case of Americans) or 76% (like Britons) and they will like to travel to Europe more?

Based on the UNWTO research, by 2030 China will account for almost a quarter of international tourism. What then? Are hoteliers ready to forfeit 25% of the business and give it out to third parties…again?m2C in Prague will be launched to encourage hoteliers and tourism experts at least to find out what are the chances to build a brand in China. How much could it cost? What tools are available on the market?Why is it worth to go there? Tomasz Janczak sums it up:

- learn the newest trends- network with the industry- enjoy workshops & training about available technologies- listen about successful case studies- get new qualifications.

Special conditions for HospitalityInside subscribers

hospitalityInside.com is a media partner of the premiere in Prague. Subscribers to HospitalityInside's paid content magazine and participants of the HospitalityInside Think Tank (HITT) receive a 20% discount on the ALL-IN and VIP PASS until the end of January 2019. To benefit from the discount, please use this link to register and enter the PROMO-CODE "HOSIN" in the booking form.